


next time I'll let your light in

by IceSword46



Series: Honest Men [2]
Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, In my head it's starting to head that way? We'll see what happens if and when I write more for them, It's not /not/ a date, Late Night Conversations, Possibly Pre-Slash, even if they don't realize it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-24 07:55:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30069087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceSword46/pseuds/IceSword46
Summary: Sam and Alex run into each other up by the train tracks.
Relationships: Alex & Sam (Stardew Valley)
Series: Honest Men [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2021797
Kudos: 1





	next time I'll let your light in

**Author's Note:**

> A follow-up to if you're okay then I'm okay
> 
> Not necessary to read prior, but sets some context.
> 
> I don't own these guys.

Sam has been noticing Alex more, ever since the night he bandaged up Sam's hands. He was right in thinking that he was mainly only friends with Haley, though Sam sometimes sees him with Emily, too. He helps out more around the house than Sam realized, though. Sam kind of assumed he mainly just worked out and helped out at that ice cream stand during the summer but he saw Alex cleaning out the gutters of his grandparents house last week, and yesterday he was fixing a hinge on the front door.

He does more around the house than Sam does, honestly. Sam mainly just keeps his room clean and help Vincent keep his room clean, too, with the rest of the work falling to his mother, apart from the dishes, which he and Vincent share duties for. He's been trying to be better about it, now. He cleaned the bathroom last Saturday. His mom raised an eyebrow when she entered to see him wiping down the bathroom mirror, his last task. Her eyes flicked to the toilet bowl, discolored with cleaner, and the fresh set of towels hanging. "Thank you for doing that, Sam," was all she said, with a small smile before stepping back out. Yes, the toilet definitely wasn't fun, but it was worth it to feel like he had stepped up.

He doesn't know if he and Alex are friends now? They don't hang out but they more regularly exchange pleasantries if they run into each other at the store or around town. He still never sees Alex in the saloon but Sam understands now why, though. Alex has come by every Sunday to throw the gridball around with Vincent. The two of them chat after Vincent tires out but it never gets past surface-level topics.

It's the Friday three weeks after that night in Alex's kitchen and Sam isn't in the mood to be at the saloon tonight. He got in a fight with his dad over the fact that he left the kitchen table right after he'd finished eating, not even making an attempt to help his mom clean things up. (He knows his dad is dealing with some things and it really wasn't fair of Sam to snap at him given that Sam himself had only just started trying to pull more of his own weight, but still). Now his dad has been out for a while and his mom has closed herself off in her room. Sam apologized and she accepted the apology but she still hasn't come out. He's not in the mood to see Seb and Abby after all that, though.

Instead, Sam grabs a blanket and his MP3 player and makes his way to the north side of town. It's fortunately a warm enough night out that he can be outside and not be shivering. Linus doesn't have a fire going tonight so Sam isn't sure if the man is in his tent or not as he walks by but it makes the night feel quieter. He also considered that Maru would be up here stargazing with this weather but he seems to have the place to himself, fortunately. He lays out the blanket and drops onto it, sprawling out. He puts on his headphones and closes his eyes.

It's at least an hour later and Sam's listening to music just slightly too loudly. A third train goes by, the noise overpowering his headphones, and a can of Joja cola comes flying out of an open train car. It manages to not explode on impact so Sam detangles himself from his MP3 player and shifts himself into standing to walk over to pick it up. He opens it and takes a long swig, staring at the fading lights of the caboose.

"That trash ain't good for you," a voice says from behind him. After spending some 45 minutes alone with that voice, he recognizes it as Alex pretty immediately, but he still jumps in surprise before turning around. Alex is standing there in a tank top and sweatpants, wet hair plastered to his forehead, Sam assumes from the bath house. A sweater is draped over his shoulder. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," Alex apologizes with a wince.

"It's okay," Sam says. "Just didn't realize anyone else was up here."

"I could say the same," Alex starts, face vanishing for a minute as he pulls on his hoodie. "Not sure if you weren't here when I got up here or if I just didn't see you. People don't usually come up this way."

"Yeah. I needed to get out of town for a bit and this was the closest thing to it," Sam admits. He takes another drink of cola and the fizz burns in a good way.

"I get it," Alex replies, kicking at the ground. "I come up this way to exercise when I want to get out of the house."

"Needing to get out tonight?" Sam asks, shifting his weight a bit to loosen up his muscles.

"Yeah." A beat, as though he's not sure if he feels like saying more. "Just felt, I don't know, restless."

"I get it," Sam replies. "I feel restless a lot."

"What had you restless tonight?

Sam bites his lip. "My dad." He lets out a huff at feeling predictable.

"He get angry?" Alex asks, so quiet Sam almost doesn't hear him ask it. Sam wonders if Alex is picturing the type of angry Sam described that night or the type of angry Alex had described. He hopes it's not the latter, that he didn't make it seem like his dad would do something like that. 

"No. I actually... got angry at him?" Sam tells him. Alex's eyebrows raise but he doesn't push for more. Sam keeps talking anyways, suddenly grateful to vent to someone. "I know he's got shit going on but, like, it just makes so much shit fall onto my mom. I know that I have, like, no room to talk because I literally only cleaned the bathroom for the first time last weekend but at least I was doing dishes and shit before that! My dad just eats dinner and then goes and watches TV, sometimes before we're even all done eating. So I said something tonight because he did it again and he got mad and mentioned something about having a bad day and stomped out."

Alex lets out a breath of his own. "Yeah. That's a lot.

 _Yoba, why can't you just shut the fuck up,_ Sam thinks. Alex does not need to just keep taking on his drama like this. "It's fine, just annoying," Sam mutters, as an attempt to reign it back.

"Yeah, but that annoyance is something you're having to deal with, so, like, that doesn't make it not a _thing_ ," Alex replies.

"I guess." They're still both standing. Sam doesn't know about Alex, but he's not ready to go back to town. He's not sure if he should sit down, ask if Alex wants to sit down, or what. Alex just kind of generally throws him off-balance. He doesn't know what to make of it.

He picks up his MP3 player as an excuse to fill the silence with some movement, and begins to wrap his the cord of his headphones around it. "I didn't mean to interrupt what you were doing," Alex says quickly.

"You didn't. It was probably time to give my ears a break from the headphones for a bit, anyways. I still don't feel like heading back into town yet, though, if you'd want to keep hanging out?" Sam immediately isn't sure if he should have asked that, in case Alex thinks he just wants to complain more. You don't have to, you're probably tired from your workout."

"Nah, it sounds nice. I don't feel like heading back, either."

"Okay, yeah, cool. You wanna sit? There's not _a ton_ of room on the blanket but it's comfier than the ground."

Alex nods and settles himself onto the blanket, crossing his legs as though to take up less space. Sam wants to tell him he doesn't have to. Sam sits down next to him, legs stretched out in front of him. The night is quiet again. Sam takes a drink of his cola.

"How was the workout?" Sam asks.

"It was good. The bath house has a full on work out bench to use, which is cool."

"Aren't you supposed to have someone, like, watch you when you do that?" Sam asks, unable to help but be concerned.

"A spotter?" Sam doesn't see Alex's shrug but he sees the gentle tug of the fabric as his weight shifts with the movement. "If you're going for max weight, yeah. Tonight was more just about feeling a burn, getting some of that restless energy out so I wasn't doing anything too intense. Wasn't worried about it."

"How long were you in there?"

Alex pulls his cell phone out of his pocket to see the time. The soft glow of it illuminates his profile, shadows casting off his jawline, his mussed-up hair. "Like, an hour and a half? Spent a while in the bath afterwards." Sam must have practically followed him up here, just missing him.

"So what had you restless enough to work out for an hour?"

"I usually work out for an hour or so," Alex replies. "I don't know. Just, like, feeling like I'm moving in place. I feel like each day is the same and I'm not doing anything with most of them."

 _Well fuck._ He figured Alex did an extra long workout because he was just that restless. _I should probably work out more_ , Sam thinks.

"I get it. I feel like the only thing that really switches up my days is band practice."

"Need a drummer?" Alex jokes flatly.

"Abby'd probably get mad if I replaced her," he replies. How shoots Alex a grin. "How about a tambourine?"

"I'll take what I can get," Alex says with an actual laugh this time.

"I've seen you working around your house. You're good with your hands. Maybe you could work on other people's houses?"

"I think Robin's kind of got that covered," Alex says, the laughter gone.

"Yeah, but she's only, like, one person. I'm sure she wouldn't mind the extra help if you offered it. Yoba knows Sebastian isn't going to. He's one of my best friends but he's not the most hands-on guy apart from his motorcycle.

"Yeah, maybe," Alex says. He sounds like he's genuinely considering it now.

A train passes by and with it the conversation changes. Sam talks about how hard _Journey of the Prairie King_ is, Alex talks about how Dusty broke a mug because he was wagging his tail too hard next to the coffee table and he knocked it off. Sam says he doesn't think he's a very good songwriter, Alex says he's worried he doesn't read as much as he should and that his grandparents are disappointed by that. They both admit they're afraid of the mines.

Another train goes by and they go quiet. The quiet hangs there after the train passes.

"You ever think of jumping on one of those?" Alex asks, not looking at Sam. His voice is quiet again.

Sam breathes in, breathes out. "Yeah," he admits. He feels shameful about it. "Not a lot, but enough."

"Me too."

"Like, I wouldn't, I'm not gonna just..." Sam starts to say, to justify himself, turning towards Alex as though he plans on saying more.

He's not going to just going to skip out on his family - _like dad_ , his brain thinks for the briefest of seconds, enough to feel like absolute shit for thinking it. That's not what happened, Sam knows that.

Alex places a hand on Sam's upper arm, to calm him. "I know," he says firmly. His eyes are locked on Sam's and once Sam's own thoughts stop spiraling he thinks, _oh. Of course._

"I haven't even been to the city since Vincent was born," Sam tells him.

"I've never been to the city," Alex replies.

You'll have to come with us when our band finally plays there."

"Need a groupie to make you look established?" Alex asks with a quirk of his lips.

"Need a tambourine player to make us look established," Sam replies and Alex's smile is 100%.

Alex clears his throat. "Not to be a buzzkill but I'm kind of wiped out."

Sam blinks and nods. "Oh, yeah, me too, actually."

Alex rises easily, hangs down his hand to offer to Sam. Sam takes it and Alex pulls him to his feet. They fold up the blanket together and head back down into town in content silence. They come to a stop in the plaza. Sam isn't sure what time it is. He can hear muted sounds coming from the saloon but there's no one out and about.

"Thanks for hanging out," Sam says, hands in his pockets and uncertain how to end the night.

Alex scuffs his shoe against the ground. "I'm glad you were feeling restless tonight," he says, almost... bashful? Sam thinks.

"Yeah," Sam answers, a surprised smile forming on his face. "You too."

"I'll catch ya later," Alex says and turns towards his house. Sam turns towards his.

* * * 

The next morning Sam wakes up to the smell of bacon. He pads out of his room to see his dad moving around the kitchen: flipping over some eggs at the stove, gathering jam and butter for a stack of toast that's sitting on a plate next to the toaster, a carton of juice and a jug of milk sitting next to four glasses. His dad turns when Sam steps on a creaky floorboard. He gives Sam a nod.

"Morning."

"Morning," Sam replies.

They don't say more than that. Sam doesn't think they need to. His mom comes out in a robe a few minutes later, while Sam is setting plates on the table. His dad hands her a fresh cup of coffee and she kisses him softly on the corner of his mouth. Vincent is the last one awake, surprisingly, and he comes rushing out of his room with a shout of "I smell bacon!" that raises a laugh out of everyone and finally breaks the quiet that had settled over the kitchen. They finally find their places at the kitchen table and dig in.

Sam catches his dad's eyes at one point, right after his mom lets out a particularly joyful laugh over something Vincent had said, and his dad smiles at him. Sam smiles back.


End file.
